The wrist watch industry has undergone major upheavals in the past decade with the advent of advanced quartz timing circuitry and digital displays. The demise of the traditional jewelled wrist watch movement commenced with the introduction of the digital watch having light emitting diode displays. A major inconvenience of such display systems was their relatively large power draw which required the use of a switch to prevent display illumination except when one actuated the switch.
Generally, thc electronic timing circuitry included an oscillating quartz crystal. Advances in display technology resulted in the implementation of liquid crystal displays which required less power than the light emitting diodes and which remained on for the duration of battery life.
Further advances included multiple features such as simultaneous timekeeping in multiple time zones, stopwatch, lap timing, beep and even musical alarms.
Thereafter, a resurgency in the use of analog displays for wrist watches occurred, with the analog timepieces being driven by the quartz electronics. Then, low cost plastic watch cases came into vogue and it became fashionable to have several watches in several colors with matching or contrasting watch bands. The style conscious people owned many of the novelty plastsic cased timepieces for color choice coordination with a selected wardrobe.
The present invention is addressed to utilizing a liquid crystal battery-powered clock-size display, e.g., 4 cm. in width by 2 cm. in height, as a novelty watch having an appropriate securement for a compatibly wide wrist strap. The use of a plastic case and the unique rectangular plan configuration of the timepiece presented problems. If adhesive securement were employed, construction became time-consuming and it was difficult if not impossible to replace a strap. Because of the case size conventional spring loaded pins would not fit and were incompatible. In addition it was evident that if separate spring loaded pins were employed, they would not withstand the rigors of sustained usage in a shock prone environment such as sports activities.